


soulmates

by spacebutterfly



Category: Inazuma Eleven GO, Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 17:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3945127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebutterfly/pseuds/spacebutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the end they found that it was fun to use their Soul powers outside of matches, too.  There was something liberating about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	soulmates

It will get dark soon, but the night doesn’t frighten her as it once did.

Trees surround them, great wooden guardians with their leafy fingertips reaching for the stars. To Konoha, they are friends. They understand, they protect.

Ryuuji can never seem to quite work out what she means by that - ‘what are they protecting us from?’ he’ll ask, with an expression of sheer innocence. But Konoha is sure that he feels it, even if not in exactly the same way. She can tell, by the way that he gazes up through the trees, his eyes growing distant with the sky. He understands, because he is like her. He loves the forest and everything in it, just like her. It reminds them of other worlds.

Something nudges Konoha’s back, and though it wakes her from her stupor she does not startle, because she knows that feeling too well. She looks up to see the grizzly bear, watching her with gentle eyes.

“Ryuuiji, what are you doing?” she laughs quietly, and as if by instinct he lowers his muzzle just at the moment that she lifts her hand to pet it. He narrows his eyes in delight, nuzzling his face into her hand. When her hand strays too close to his mouth, he flicks out his tongue to lick it. “Hey! You’re not a doggy!” she laughs, and if bears can look amused, this certainly one does.

Konoha admires the grizzly bear, with his face so sharp and handsome, his fur so soft and sleek, his frame tall with strength and kindness. She feels something stirring inside her - the fox wants to play, she wants to run free with him. But not yet, Konoha insists, not just yet. She likes the feel of Ryuuji’s fur on her bare skin, and she lets her hands disappear into the sea of fur at the nape of his neck. He rumbles with pleasure, his eyes all but closed as he sinks into her touch.

“Ryuuji,” she murmurs soothingly, running her fingers down his chest. He lays down for her and she returns her attention to his head - scritching behind his ears and delighting at how tiny they are. His response is to bury his head in her chest, catching her so off-guard that she almost falls backwards. “Ryuuji!” she scolds, but he’s so warm and soft that any irritation melts away. Kneeling down, she consents to him resting his head in her lap. He can’t burden her with his full weight, of course, but its heavy enough for her to be comforted by it, heavy enough for her to feel his breath as if it’s her own.

Though Ryuuji and Grizzly are in truth one and the same, the bear always seems a little more carefree with his actions - always nuzzling her, leaning into her, asking for affection, with a forwardness that he usually holds back. Konoha knows how deliberate it is, how he knows that he can get away with anything as long as he looks cute while doing it, playing right into her weakness. Still, for a bear and a delinquent, he is quite well-behaved. She scratches his cheek, smiling as his eyelids flutter closed.

In fact, she likes it this way. Sometimes it’s nice to spoil him back.

She lets time while away like that for a while, caressing Ryuuji’s cheek and letting the silence tighten around them. Seconds become minutes, and minutes become a daydream.

Konoha blinks, taking in the darkness around her. Maybe it can’t be called a _day_ dream any more. As her hand stops moving, Ryuuji lifts her a questioning gaze. Smiling, but saying nothing, she gently removes herself from the bear’s entanglement and stands up. His ears twitch excitedly as he stands up too, looking down at her wide-eyed, like an overexcited dog.

Bringing out a Soul is more than just leaving your body. Your heart might remain, but your senses, your perception, even your thoughts are different. You don’t lose anything, but at the same time, it’s simpler. You are a part of the world and it is part of you. Or at least, that’s how Konoha has always seen it. As for Ryuuji, she’s never strictly asked, but she’s sure it must be the same.

The fox flicks her tail and throws the bear a twinkling gaze, taking a few steps forward to ascertain herself to this body again. It’s not the same as bringing it out mid-match, where it happens in such a burst of energy that you hardly have to think about it. To really make it your own takes a much higher power of will.

But they’ve had a lot of time to practice it.

There is no need to speak. They touch noses and Ryuuji’s deep brown eyes briefly meet hers, before she steps forward to brush against his foreleg. He remains still as she winds herself around it, encroaching herself in the gap between his front legs and leaning up to into his chest. He’ll know without her saying a word. _‘I love you.’_ He cranes his neck down to nose at her cheek.

The darkness of evening is no threat now, not to them who have more power than any other living thing in the forest. Konoha darts out from underneath the bear and towards the edge of the clearing, pausing and waiting for him him to follow. He tilts his head slightly in confusion, as if questioning why she doesn’t want to be close to him all of a sudden - but with an excited flick of her tail, he seems to understand.

She’ll run, and he’ll chase - lost in a dream together, they gambol and forget the world. Under the moon they dance, Konoha always darting just out of Kusaka’s reach. When they tire, it’s under a blanket of stars that they sleep, her buried in his fur, tucked under his arm - only then can he say he’s caught her.

 

 

They knew nothing then. But they were free. 

**Author's Note:**

> tried


End file.
